In response to Re Staring Chinese (We come in peace (shoot to kill))

In New York City you dare not stare at someone on the subway. In the elevator you avoid all eyes and face forward. But when you sit in a diner booth with your friends or co-workers you are expected to maintain rapt eye contact while juggling your BLT to hear the story of their latest argument with their boss.

In China the hierarchy of eye contact is reversed. Close friends glance until eyes collide then turn away, routinely downward. But on the street, even in the elevator, with strangers it is open season for eye molestation.

My routine is to stare back with an insane Jack Nicholson smile. Few Chinese adults choose to sustain the cross-cultural interaction.